Sharon Osbourne is in talks with Live Nation to revive OzzFest, the touring metal festival she co-founded with her late husband Ozzy Osbourne in 1996. The event could return as soon as 2027, though Osbourne says it would now span multiple genres rather than focusing solely on hard rock and metal. She revealed the plans in a recent interview with Billboard, framing the potential comeback as a continuation of Ozzy’s commitment to giving emerging artists major platform exposure.
The original OzzFest launched in October 1996 as a two-day event before expanding into an annual touring festival the following year. It ran nearly every year until 2018, when the final edition took place on New Year’s Eve in Inglewood, California, featuring Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, DevilDriver and Ozzy himself. The festival scaled back from a multi-day tour to a single-day format starting in 2008.
Osbourne told Billboard the festival was designed to showcase new talent in front of large audiences. “We really started metal festivals in this country,” she said. “It was like summer camp for kids.” She’s floated the idea of a revival before, mentioning it on The Osbournes podcast in January 2024, but cited ongoing issues with artist managers demanding unrealistic fees. In previous interviews, she said the festival ended because agents became too greedy, with one act refusing to perform until she agreed to an additional $10,000 payment.
Separately, Osbourne confirmed she’s working with Live Nation on a classical tour that will feature orchestras performing Black Sabbath songs alongside state-of-the-art visuals. Details on both projects are expected later this year. Ozzy Osbourne died in 2024, roughly two weeks after performing a final show with Black Sabbath at Villa Park in Birmingham.
